film development and jessops confusion

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Just trying to educate myself as I'm a complete noob to traditional film.

My late grandfather had an old Zenit camera I now have and didn't have any idea if there was any film it it.

After taking what seemed a lot of shots, the camera wouldn't cock anymore so I guessed there was film in it. Rewound it, and then I though I'd finished rewinding it as it became a lot easier. Turns out the film broke inside the camera which I found out when I opened the back to take it out. So it's in two pieces and I guess the chances are the fill still on the spool will be blown as it had some light on it for a fraction of a second.

Not having a suitable dark room, I took the whole camera to Jessops so they could take it out. A few minutes later, they came back with two rolls - one of the film rewound in the film cartridge, another loose piece in a light-protecting film case. Not knowing if any of it's salvageable, I asked them to have it developped - there may be some photos my grandfather took and of course they have an emotional value.

They asked whether I wanted a 1 hour processing, or 1 day processing and I went for the one day.

Now, they've just phoned me saying they can't develop it because it's "slide film". And they'll need a week to develop it - which is fine by me :)

But it got me thinking:
- I thought all 35mm film was of similar type - the roll appeared to be some standard Fuji ASA100 :thinking: So why would this be any different?
- What type of film development services do Jessops offer that differ from what I gave them :thinking:

I might just ring them back and ask for a clarification. I'm not blaming them at all, just confused.
All you darkroom experts out there, care to shed any light on it (no pun intended :D)

Thanks.
 
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Slide film is part of a designation that refers to the development process that the film needs to go through. You have C-41, which is for films like Fuji Superia and Kodak Ultramax, and then you have a different process (which is what slide film is) called E-6 - for film like Fuji Velvia and Sensia.

C-41 is the more common process as it covers film that was more likely to be used by most consumers.

They probably need a week because they'll send it off to a separate lab. I warn you in advance, the cost might not be cheap - E6 development even in good value labs is quite expensive (relatively), so getting it done through Jessops might be extortionate.
 
Slide film which is properly known as E-6 gives a positive image that can be projected whilst colour negative (C-41 film) gives a negative image which is then scanned or printed to be looked at. Negative film has a lot more lattitude (i.e you can under/overexpose it more before it loses detail), but has slightly less resolution and not quite as fine grain (although these days that distinction is less pronounced). Slide film is higher contrast and more difficult to expose correctly as it has only about a stop or so of lattitude compared to -1 to +3 stops with negative film. If exposed correctly however slides are better and until digital came along was what the press industry demanded for pictures.

1 week???? More like 4 weeks knowing Jessops E-6 slide service. Their prices are pretty high for E-6 developing considering how long they take. I send my slide films to 'The Darkroom' in Cheltenham and they charge just £7.90 inc postage plus its a freepost address. And they get the slides to me within 3 days normally.

Its a common mistake with Zenits to rewind the film without disengaging the film transport, turn metal ring around the shutter release to 'R' before rewinding. Otherwise the film transport keeps the film tense, making it difficult to rewind and eventually the film breaks as you strain it.

Before Jessops send it off you might want to ask for it back so you can send it off to somehere else like the place I mentioned above. As long as you put explicit instructions with the order and seal the case with tape or something to stop it being opened easily, then 'The Darkroom' will definitley do it for you. You might want to pay for a CD as well if you don't have a projector, although you could just hold the slides up to the light and look at them.
 
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Thanks for the clarification chaps :)

They did promise me although they'd need "around a week", the cost would be the same as they initially quoted me for the more traditional film type: £4.99 for development +any prints onto paper.
 
You might have missed my edit to my post above, as you replied whilst I was doing it. I wouldn't expect all the pictures to be quite perfect because as I said slide film has much less lattitude so it 'blows out' easier but its a bit differnt than the digital version as highlights tend to 'blow out' gradually on film.
 
Yeah, agreed with Samuel, especially if you were using the meter in the Zenit (if there was one), as old meters often go bad and start giving incorrect readings after time.

Oh and in case it wasn't obvious (we haven't plainly said it), it is slide film because the pictures were delivered mounted in slides:
slides.jpg
 
freecom2 said:
Yeah, agreed with Samuel, especially if you were using the meter in the Zenit (if there was one), as old meters often go bad and start giving incorrect readings after time.

Oh and in case it wasn't obvious (we haven't plainly said it), it is slide film because the pictures were delivered mounted in slides:
slides.jpg
Click to expand...
It wasn't obvious enough to me ;)
How big are those slides? Normal slides you put in those old photo projectors? And I presume these positives replace the normal negatives you get with traditional film?

edited to add: hmm light meter probably was off as I also recovered a seperate light meter. A lovely old analog needle one that looks like it's from the 1950s :)
 
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Even your separate light meter is likely to be off, they go off with age. Slide film is notorious for needing accurate exposures, and since it sounds like it was film already in the camera from a while back, it's already likely to be expired, partly shot so emulsion is already partly exposed (on the frames that have been shot), and to add on top that it's slide film... I'd keep low hopes on getting any results, to be perfectly honest with you.
 
Those slides are about 50mm square, they fit into a standard 35mm projector. You do get positives instead of the negatives. Be mindful though that to project them they need to be mounted in plastic/card mounts like in the post above. Did you ask for them to be mounted when you took them in for processing?
You can get mounts and do it yourself but you have to cut the positives into single frames and getting them in the mounts is notoriously fiddly according to my dad. Plus as your handling the film its easy to get scratches/fingerprints on them.

Which Zenit exactly do you have? There are about 15 different models, my EM's meter is fine and I've shot several rolls of slides with it most of which were acceptably to well exposed. Unfortunately because its non TTL it can be fooled by contrasty situations.
 
I didn't give any recommendations and they didn't ask for any as it wasn't known at the time it was slide film.

I said that any photos that were OK, to print them 7x5, otherwise I'd just keep the negatives (which are now positives!).

Camera is a XT12. I believe it's TTL but not sure how working it was as I don't have a manual and couldn't figure out the red lights on the right hand side in the viewfinder.
 
If you were unable to meter correctly with it then I wouldn't hold out much hope of the pictures you took coming out very well.

The 12XP is TTL and rather simple, in the viewfinder if its overexposed then the top LED on the right lights up and if its underexposed the bottom one lights up. When the exposure is correct, they both light up.

Manual here:

http://www.butkus.org/chinon/russian/zenith_12/zenith_12-splash.htm

All TTL Zenits used the same system and were similar to each other. Older non TTL ones like my EM had a bank of selenium cells on the pentaprism and you moved a little knob until a ring was over a line next to the wind back knob. You then transferred the settings to the camera as it was uncoupled.
 
Yeah, I kind of figured that was how it worked, except the results seemed inconsistent. Also, I didn't know what speed the film was and had it set to 250 instead of 100.

I'm not keeping my hoped up. I certainly don't care about what I took (there were snaps at best), I'm just curious in case there are any photos my late grandfather took.

P.S Thanks for the link to the manual :)
 
Not 100% on the meter, ISO set wrong, old film - yeah, don't expect much for definite. As for the pictures your late grandfather took, fingers crossed, but depending on how long the film has been in the camera and how it's been stored I'd keep the expectations low as well. But ahh well, here's to hoping.

Let us know how it goes! :)
 
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